On Saturday afternoon at WonderCon 2024, I attended the “X-Men Fandom” panel, which featured the voice cast and a producer of the smash-hit Disney+ animated series X-Men ‘97.
Before the panel began, groups of cosplayers came up to the front of the room to pose for photos with other attendees dressed as the same X-Men characters, like Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Magneto, and Bishop.
The moderators for the “X-Men Fandom” panel were Chandler Poling and Chris Riley from the “X-Reads” podcast and “The Uncanny X-Men Experience.” Panelists included Lenore Zann (the voice of Rogue in both the 90s X-Men animated series and X-Men ‘97), Matthew Waterson (Magneto), A.J. LoCascio (Gambit), Gui Agustini (Sunspot), Holly Chou (Jubilee), J.P. Karliak (Morph), Isaac Robinson-Smith (Bishop), and supervising producer Jake Castorena.
In the video embedded below, you can watch the exciting moment that the above-listed panelists took the stage.
The panel itself began with the X-Men ‘97 cast and supervising producer discussing their first memories of the X-Men franchise from when they were growing up. Next they talked about how they went about approaching the new version of the show and keeping it aligned with the spirit of the original: “X-Men always has been and always will be an allegory for prejudice.” Gui Agustini talks about auditioning for the role of Sunspot, and we also heard from Isaac Robinson-Smith, J.P. Karliak, Holly Chou, A.J. LoCascio, Lenore Zann, and Matthew Waterson about their auditions and casting process for the show. They showed a clip from the most recent episode of X-Men ‘97 and then shared a photo of young Holly Chou dressed as Storm (she said Jubilee was never her favorite character as a kid).
Lastly, Matthew Waterson talked about what makes Magneto such an interesting villain, and then the panel turned the spotlight over to the audience for a Q&A session with fans. New episodes of X-Men ‘97 will continue to be released on Wednesdays, exclusively via Disney+.
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